According to Mediabistro’s FishbowlNY, Marco Pierre White is coming to NBC as star of the latest food reality show, The Chopping Block, an Apprentice-like elimination series about eight couples running two competing restaurants in New York. This show might actually be good: White is a true mentor, rather than a self-aggrandizing ogre after the mode of his former protégé, Gordon Ramsay, and NBC's track record in food reality TV is short but stellar, with both The Restaurant and Top Chef to its credit. Not only will we be able to write about the show, but also to dine in! The restaurants the contestants create will be open for business, just like Rocco's unlucky venture a few years ago  but there weren't nearly as many food blogs back then.
Marco Pierre White Tapped for NBC's New 'Top Chef'/Hell's Kitchen Killer [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
Related: Batali, Bourdain, and Ramsay Mentor to Finally Take on America?

East Village: Nomad on Second Avenue at 4th Street will spotlight Algerian wines and meze pairings for a month starting March 20, in honor of the restaurants third anniversary. [Grub Street]
Flatiron: Lunetta will serve a prix fixe Easter supper that offers roasted-beet salad with fennel and orange, and braised rabbit with Robiola agnolotti. [Grub Street]
Hell’s Kitchen: If the prices of your Broadway tickets get you down, a delicious, cheap meal at the new wine bar Gallo Nero is a good follow-up to a show. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Upper East Side: A new Persian restaurant called Shalizar is opening at 1420 Third Avenue between 80th and 81st streets. [Upper East Side Informer]
Upper West Side: The Empire Hotel plans to unveil a China Grill Management–renovated rooftop bar by this May. [Zagat Buzz]

Last October, our columnists the Fug Girls asked: "Can New York help save Lindsay Lohan?" Rumor had it at the time that she was going to be spending more time here, living out of her apartment at the tony Atelier building in Hell's Kitchen. (Nick Lachey lives there, too!) But it turns out we had to wait longer than expected to find the answer to the Fugs' question. Well, the wait is over! According to Ben Widdicombe's "Gatecrasher" column, LiLo has moved into her apartment — and, appropriately, she threw a chem-free party with her younger sister, Ali, in the building's rooftop party space to celebrate. How do we know this? Because Lindsay's friends over at the Shadow PR agency were there and they took photos to send to the press. In the staged pics, she really looks swell! (And not in the nasty, "YOU'RE A HOG" way "Page Six" said she looked "swell" in a photo today.) Anyway, we know she's not only staying at home and going to bed early: We've already spotted her out on the town. But we still think there's hope that the Big Apple will help her and her tagalong sister keep their heads on straight. After all, it's done wonders for the Olsen twins.
Lohan's Sibling Revelry [NYDN]

Gordon Ramsay is a cruel, profane, rampaging jerk — which is why the world loves him. (It can’t be his food, which most critics consider by-the-book classic French.) So how can you replace a guy like that? That’s the problem the producers of Hell’s Kitchen faced, and they solved it by bringing in Marco Pierre White, Ramsay’s former mentor, then enemy. The problem is that, by all reports, White is a changed man, calm and peaceful in his middle age. Even in his prime, he was never as outrageously abusive as Ramsay. We don’t think he’ll be nearly as entertaining.
Hell’s Kitchen (Review) [Sydney Morning Herald]

Bedford-Stuyvesant: Grungy bodega Chinantla, known for its Eat for Victory–approved $2 tacos, has just undergone a massive clean-deli renovation. The tasty tacos haven’t just survived the transition; they’re better. [Brooklyn Based]
Chelsea: Trestle on Tenth highlights the wines and cheeses of the Jura region (which extends through France and Switzerland) in special pairings on offer March 4 to 9. [Grub Street]
East Village: You can find high-quality prepackaged tofu by Kyoto’s "Johnny the Tofu-Maker, Blowin’ in the Wind" at Sunrise Mart, and the jiggly treat is so creamy you might want to forgo a sprinkling of soy sauce for a drizzle of honey. [Gothamist]
Hell’s Kitchen: Zanzibar has a new bar menu that’s served Monday through Saturday until 2 a.m. and includes Mediterranean meze and Asian appetizer platters. [Grub Street]
Meatpacking District: 4-Foodies hits up Sue Torres's communal Mexican spot Los Dados for its next tasting event on Monday, March 10. [4foodiesusa.com]
Midtown West: Trying to decide between a Five Guys burger and one from Burger Joint? This handy midtown-hamburger slideshow should help. [Zagat]
Tribeca: David Bouley pulled back his application for a liquor license for Brushstrokes in response to community opposition, postponing, not bowing out of, the fight. [Eater]

Dutch Kills: Seems that by the time they finish zoning this swath of Long Island City against tall hotels, it'll already be chock-full of 'em Ground's been broken on too many to stop. [NYDN]
East Harlem: In other critter news, this story about a poodle named Miss Bea — rescued from a closet after so much neglect that her matted, dirty coat became "like a tortoiseshell" — will probably make you cry, barf, or both. [NYDN]
Hell's Kitchen: We must say, we remain fascinated with the charmingly boring blog of this HKer who posts such daily banalities as photos of his dishes in local eateries and accounts of his walks around town. [Hell's Kitchen NYC]

Carroll Gardens: The Clover Club  the Smith Street cocktail spot from the Flatiron Lounge people have a sign up. Getting close! [Off the Presses]
Gramercy: Shockingly, for some cooked-food enthusiasts, "some of Pure’s dishes, and not just obvious things like salad, are downright delicious." [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Greenwich Village: Somebody told somebody that a bartender at a new bar told him that Keith McNally may have put a $1 million bid on Minetta Tavern. [Eater]
Hell’s Kitchen: Video of Dave Martin concocting a special Valentine’s Day gelato to serve at Crave. [Snack]
Tribeca: David Waltuck "first got behind the stove [at Chanterelle] — and set the restaurant on its path to becoming one of the city’s most cherished — before he was 25 years old. He’s now 53." And ready for a Q&A with Frank Bruni. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
West Village: Grom is totally coming to Bleecker Street, and they’re accepting applications now for a March opening. [Eat for Victory/VV] Was Beatrice Inn raided and shut down last night? [Down by the Hipster]

Astoria: Joey recommends Bistro 33, Mundo, and L’Incontro among romantic V-Day options, but plans to offer more ideas for the nabe next week [Joey in Astoria]; Ethos is closed for renovations the next three weeks. [Grub Street]
Chelsea: Bottlerocket’s naughty gift set includes a bottle of Nicolas Feuillate Champagne and condoms. New York: where even wine stores are full-service. [Grub Street]
East Village: The owners of Hi-Fi are preparing to open the Bowery Electric in the old Remote Lounge space, and an unrelated wine bar will also be opening soon. [Zagat]
Flatiron: If you can hold off on your chocolate binge until after Valentine’s Day (when he doesn’t call), there’s a tasting at Dessert Studio at Chocolat Michel Cluizel on February 19 hosted by 4-Foodies. [4-Foodies]
Hell’s Kitchen: Kyotofu has launched a culture series that explores Japanese customs like the kimono and the tea ceremony on the third Wednesday of every month (starting the 20th). [Grub Street]
Midtown West: The bar and lounge at the South Gate, the new restaurant in the Jumeirah Essex House, debuts tonight. [Eater]

Chelsea: RUB and Swich are just two under-$10 lunch options in this list devoted to the nabe. [Gridskipper]
East Village: A Spanish wine bar called Pata Negra opens Friday at 345 East 12th Street. [NYT]
Flatiron: A Voce pastry chef Josh Gripper classifies himself as single and dangerous. [Restaurant Girl]
Fort Greene: Don’t hold your breath waiting for lamb sliders from the French-Moroccan restaurant that was supposed to open on DeKalb Avenue; the space wasn’t completed, and the sign and menu have already been taken down. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Hell’s Kitchen: If you want to explore dining options outside our comprehensive Valentine’s Day Guide, you could look to Kyotofu, which is serving a three-course dessert prix fixe promising a raspberry Valrhona-dark-chocolate fondue and Hou Hou Shu pink-sparkling sake. [Kyotofu]
West Village: Commerce opens tomorrow in the former Blue Mill Tavern space and there will be a 20 percent discount on food through Monday. [NYT]; the last outlet of Flor’s Kitchen will shut itself down this Sunday citing problems with the landlord. [Eater]

Astoria: Councilman Vallone, if you thought you could just put that preconstructed, toxin-belching smokestack there on 37th Street and nobody would notice, you were sadly mistaken. Oh, and "you're slowly turning the area into a ghetto," too, by the way. [Queens Crap]
Carroll Gardens: If you give this "Ivy-educated" author, psychologist, educator, and editor a free place to live, he (she?) will be your shrink and write your memoir. Yeah, we've heard that one before. [Pardon Me for Asking]
Harlem: They're standing by original funk-soul brother Bill Clinton up here, especially with that Obama being "a nice white middle-class guy." Ouch! [NYT]

Astoria: The café Oleput at 31-13 Ditmars has reopened, and they might have a liquor license. [Joey in Astoria]
Clinton Hill: Krumbs (or whatever the bakery will soon be called) is now open at 154 Vanderbilt between Willoughby and Myrtle, and mini–carrot cakes seem like a hit. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Flushing: The legendary Chinese food court at J & L mall may be closed for good after a brief shutter this summer. The condo curse strikes again. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Hell's Kitchen: Kyotofu’s hosting a winter sake pairing Monday with the theme "An Evening at an Izakaya, a traditional Japanese Pub.” It includes real food like miso-grilled ten-grain yaki-onigiri rice balls and shiitake-and-pork-yuba dumplings. [Grub Street]
Park Slope: A new reason to join the CSA: Find a tiny frog in your lettuce and get a hilarious feature in the Daily News. [Gothamist]
Upper East Side: A San Francisco restaurant critic goes to Park Avenue Winter and other top-billed New York restaurants and admits being "struck by a trend that seems to be taking root [here]: Market-driven menus. Of course, this is common to the Bay Area." [Between Meals/San Francisco Chronicle]
Upper West Side: Eleven Madison Park chef Kerry Heffernan has outfitted the old Cafe Botanica with mirrors and glass to prepare for the opening of South Gate, his new restaurant slated for a mid-February opening. [Restaurant Girl]

Astoria: La Guli Bakery at 29-15 Ditmars Boulevard serves gelato throughout the winter if you get an irrational craving in this blistery weather. [Joey in Astoria]
East Village: La Palapa is offering Super Bowl catering packages if you decide to pass on the Tostitos and Chi-Chi’s salsa this year. [Grub Street]
Forest Hills: Rouge Bistro has closed. [Grub Street]
Hell’s Kitchen: Newish restaurants like Cooper’s Tavern and Go!Go! Curry mean you can finally find something to eat in the garment district. [NYT]
Midtown East: "I could live — and dine out nightly — for more than 100 years, and I still don’t think I’d come to understand restaurants like Il Nido," says Bruni about the expensive, hit-or-miss Italian. But over 1,000 words later, he’s explained the survival of old-school inconsistent restaurants quite well. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Soho: Cipriani Downtown will be closed most of this week for renovations to the floor and bar area. [Eater]
West Village: A cupcake bar called Sweet Revenge is opening this spring at 62 Carmine Street near Bedford Street, and the owner’s goal is to sex up the revered city sweets. [Crain’s NY via Eater]